New Year, New Mindset

by Philip A. Faruggio / January 3rd, 2011

We need to all shift our consciousness away from the programming of our youth. We were taught that Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest was apropos to the business world. Of course, the schools and the media made us believe that America operated on a level playing field in business and commerce. They told us how the corporation was a good thing because it gave us goods and services at the best prices and it created lots of good jobs. Dare I need to comment? We were also taught that politics was open to all in an egalitarian way. The story of Abe Lincoln, a backwoods child of poverty, and how he ascended to the highest office in the land. Voting, they taught us, was the finest way to make government work for us. Elected officials were there to serve the average Joe and Jane, not the vested interests. Need I again have to comment?

Well, those of you out there who do even a little ‘non mainstream media‘ research and study, know the hogwash of all that. America is now, and has always been, ruled by the very wealthy, through corporations and their servants in political office. Barack Obama is just one more example of how a working class person gets co-opted by the vested interests.

So what to do? Well, first off, we who know better must focus our energy on what can be explained to our neighbors (who do not yet know) and then gain their needed support. You see, the only thing these very wealthy and powerful entities fear is a ‘gathering storm’ of the masses — focused on one issue. There are a myriad of great and important issues. Yet, if we dilute our group energy from one key issue at a time into streams of many issues, we fail.

There is an movement that brings many activist groups together under one banner: The 25% Solution. So simple, yet so vital for any real substantive change in our economy and national focus. Basically, the idea is to demand that Congress cut the military budget by 25%, and use the savings to keep our states and cities from facing immediate crisis or bankruptcy through budget shortfalls. Let’s face it: Our states are already in budget shortfalls and our cities are in freefall. Schools, police, fire, hospitals…. Even street lighting is being rationed in cities across America. Libraries , day care, Medicaid, local city services of every kind are being cut or discontinued. Yet, the 2009 military budget was almost $ 600 billion… nearly double what it was 10 years ago. We have at least 800 military bases in over 100 countries, costing us hundreds of billions. We are knee deep in Iraq and Afghanistan at the cost of hundreds of billions a year, not to mention the loss of so many lives. A select few companies are collectively raking in hundreds of billions of your tax dollars in contracts to keep this empire’s evil engine running.

Does anyone out there really think that our national defense will be threatened by pruning this terribly bloated military budget by 25%? If we A) got the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan and B) closed most of those 800 bases worldwide, the majority of the people on this planet would applaud us for it! We could ship the personnel and the equipment back home, save a trillion dollars in just two or three years, and save our economy. We would most likely have more secured borders, and no need to close our domestic military installations — to the joy of the local economies nearby.

Being a loyal and patriotic American means caring about your country more than the flag waving disingenuous Military Industrial Complex that has subverted our Constitution, Bill of Rights, Congress and Presidency!

Philip A. Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and Smirking Chimp sites), an environmental products sales rep and an activist. Since 2010, Philip is a spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at: paf1222@bellsouth.net. Read other articles by Philip A..

One comment on this article so far ...

philip:
“Voting, they taught us, was the finest way to make government work for us. Elected officials were there to serve the average Joe and Jane, not the vested interests.”

true. but more and more usans, or regionals, as i call them, see balloting as the least important structural member of governance.
devil, it took me two minutes to type correctly the word “structural”.

they have scattered the letters all over my keyboard and the keys so small my thick finger punches at least two keys at the same time.
why the hell is the keyboard so disorderly? let’s invent the right one. tnx